Dearborn Animal Shelter names architects for new building; $1.5M still needed to begin

An artist's rendering of the planned new Dearborn animal shelter at the former Amtrak station on Michigan Avenue.

With half of the $4.5 million needed in hand, Friends For the Dearborn Animal Shelter hopes to break ground on a new animal shelter this year.

The nonprofit, which took over operation of the shelter from the city in 1996, has named Southfield-based Neumann/Smith Architecture and Ghafari Associates LLC in Dearborn as architects on the project.

It will need to raise another $1.5 million to start the project, said Elaine Greene, executive director of Friends For the Dearborn Animal Shelter.

The 21,000-square-foot shelter will be located at the former Amtrak station on Michigan Avenue on property donated by the city of Dearborn. The new site will give the nonprofit four times as much space as the city-owned, 30-year-old location from where it currently operates on Greenfield, Greene said.

Early plans incorporate geothermal energy for heating and cooling, energy efficiency and daylight lighting, and high-efficiency glass and building insulation materials into the design for the new building.

Friends For the Dearborn Animal Shelter had revenue of about $900,000 in 2013 and ended the year in the black, Greene said, noting it is still finalizing financials.

About 8 percent of its cash budget comes from a city subsidy; the remainder comes from fundraising and fees for dropping off animals at the shelter, animals that are picked up by owners after being picked up and boarded at the shelter, and the rental of live traps, Greene said.

The shelter last year took in 2,800 animals. Of those, it placed 71 percent and euthanized 17 percent that were not adoptable due to temperament and health issues, she said.